Surprises
by PinkRose111
Summary: A story about an ordinary girl going off to Hogwarts... Please R&R
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

"Indigo!" mum calls, "will you get the post please?"

"Yeah." I run down the stairs and see a few envelopes in our hall. A bill, a postcard for my brother, Sean and a letter for my sister, Sian. Nothing for me. I turn around to give out the envelopes and another comes zooming in the letter box. I pick it up. In swirly green writing it says:

Ms I Powers,

Number 7,

St. James's Estate,

Kleane,

Co. Kilkenny

I go upstairs into my parents room to give them their boring bills. "What do you have there?" my mum asks me. I show her the envelope. When she sees the writing she looks confused, then suddenly extremely happy. She rips it open like a little girl on Christmas morning. "Hey," I protest, snatching it back. "It's mine. This is what it says:

Dear Ms I Powers,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all the necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress".

I look up, totally confused. Both my parents are smiling at each other. "Explain," I say. "Now."

"Don't be so cheeky," my mum says.

"OK. Please explain this to me mother."

"Well. Hmm. How do I start?"

"How about telling me what this letter is all about?"

"Well, it's about Hogwarts. Hogwarts is a school for people with magic. Witches and wizards. And there's wands and spells an stuff like that." I stare at her in disbelief.

"And how do you know all of this?" I ask after a minute.

"Well," mum says, "I'm a witch." I look at Dad but he doesn't say anything.

"Then why don't you do spells and have a wand and stuff?" I ask mum.

"Well, you see, I am a witch but I don't think I'm a proper one. I can do a few spells but it's harder than it should be. And this runs in the family. None of my sisters are magic. My mum was but her mum wasn't... it's not usually the way magic runs through families."

We're all silent for a moment. "So I probably won't be a proper witch either?" I ask.

"Well not necessarily. There are some brilliant witches in the family. And you are always perfect at everything. Well, better than I was anyway."

"That's not true," I say, but I kind of think it is.

"Oh come on," she says. "You can sing, you can draw, you can play loads of instruments... I couldn't do any of that."

"Well," Dad says, speaking for the first time. "If Indigo's going off to Hogwarts, we better tell the others about magic and stuff like that. They might be wizards and witches too."

"I will later. Indigo, come with me."

She gets out of bed and puts on her dressing gown and slippers. She looks a bit funny with purple pyjamas, a pink dressing gown and multi-coloured slippers. I follow her into the office and wait while she roots through a load of boxes and papers until she finally finds what she's looking for. She takes out a purple bag with yellow stars on it. She pulls out a thick kind of stick and a book. "This is my wand," she tells me, pointing to the stick. "And this is one of my old spellbooks."

My eyes look at the wand and spellbook but I can barely see them. I'm still trying to get my head around this whole magic thing.


	2. Chapter 2

After my mum told Sean and Sian all about magic, she writes the letter confirming everything. It was so odd to see an owl fly away with a letter attached to its leg.

"Ok," mum says to me a few days later. "We're going to Diagon Alley!" She spends the next hour getting everything magic that she owns. This includes her wand, a load of spell books, her broomstick and her cauldron. The she gets a pot of what looked like green dust. "This is Floo Powder." She tells me.

Then she lights a fire and turns to me. "This is how floo powder works; you take a pinch, throw it into the fire and say where you want to go. Now do exactly as I do." She takes a pinch out of the pot, throws it into the fire and steps in. She closes her eyes, tucks her elbows in and says, "Diagon Alley!" And then she vanishes. I look around me for some unknown reason then take the pot. I nervously throw in some powder and watch the flames turn green. I gingerly put a foot in. It's warm but it's not scalding. I step in completely and turn around. As clearly as possible, I shout, "Diagon Alley!"

I suddenly shoot up. I try to keep as still as possible but it's hard because I seem to be spinning very fast. Suddenly I fall forward and look up to see my mum smiling at me. "Thanks God you came out the wrong fireplace too," she says. "What?" I ask. "Did you say the wrong fireplace?" "Yeah, I came out one too early. We're in a street next to Diagon Alley."

I'm really disappointed that I didn't do it right but also extremely relieved that we made the same mistake. We walk on and soon came to a sign saying: Diagon Alley. We hurry on and come to the colourful street. "Take out your list," mum orders. I pull it out of my pocket and read aloud;

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Uniform First year students will require:

Three sets of plain work robes (black)

One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings).

And I'll need to put name tags on all of them." "Ok. That's quite a lot," mum says anxiously. "Anyway, we'll collect some money from Gringotts and then we'll go into Madam Makin's." "What's Gringotts?" I ask. "It's the wizarding bank. Run by goblins." "Cool."


	3. Chapter 3

After Mum talks to one of the weird-looking goblins, he leads us to a cart. The three of us get in and then we go along the track at lightning speed. I was NOT expecting this.

I close my eyes until we came to a halt outside a little door. "Vault 380," announces the goblin. He gets out of the cart and walked over to the door. He puts our little gold key into a tiny keyhole I hadn't even seen it before. Mum and I follow him. When he opens the door wide I see three piles, one of gold coins, one of silver and one of bronze. Mum takes up a handful of gold coins and puts them in a turquoise purse. "These are Galleons," she says. She takes some silver ones, "Sickle. And these," she says, picking up a load of bronze ones, "are Knuts."

I'm speechless. I never knew we had this much money. "I was in a lot of people's Wills," she tells me, seeing my expression.

The goblin gives a slight cough and we all get back into the cart. We whizz away and soon we're back at the entrance. "Now," Mum says, "this money has to last you all year OK? Actually, there's a lot here, it should last you more than that." "Ok." I don't really see when I'll get a chance to spend anything so it shouldn't be a problem.

After Gringotts we go into Madam Malkin's. "Hogwarts?" she asks when she sees me. I nod. She brings me into another room and starts taking measurements.

Fifteen minutes later and I'm walking out of the shop with all my uniform. Next we go into Flourish and Blotts for my books.

The shopkeeper asks for my list and then goes to get them himself. I walk over to the nearest shelf and start looking at the spines. The books are mostly about something called Quidditch. Then I see a purple and green one at the end. _Simple but useful Spells _is the title. I pick it up and flick through the pages. Each chapter seems to be all about one spell.

"Here they are," says a voice beside me. I turn around and see the shopkeeper standing with a pile of books in his arms. "Thank you," I say, putting all the books in my bag. "That'll be 15 Galleons, 8 Sickles and 3 Knuts please." I take out my purse and give him the money. Then Mum comes over to me. "Got everything?" I nod. "I was looking around outside. How about I get your other stuff like your scales and your cauldron and you can do whatever?" I nod again. "I'll see you outside here in 10 minutes then." She takes my list and goes off while I return to the book.

I take out my pen and paper (which I always carry around with me) and take down a few spells and the movements. I put the book back and go over to the shop across from this. It's a pet shop but there are only owls, cats, toads and rats. No puppies, no rabbits, no guinea pigs. I'm about to leave when I hear a familiar voice behind me. "Oh this owl is lovely Mum," she says. I spin around and see one of my best friends, Aoife Riley standing there with her Mum.

She sees me and we both stare at each other in astonishment. "You're magic too?" We ask at the same time. I nod and she nods and then we both smile. "This is brilliant! We're both going to Hogwarts!"

I see the time on a clock on the wall and realise that my 10 minutes are up. "I've got to go now but I'll see you later," I tell Aoife. "Ok. Bye." I walk across the road to Mum.

"Oh my God, you'll never guess who I just saw in the pet shop," I say to Mum. "Who?" "Aoife." "Aoife Riley?" "Yeah." "Cool. Do we have everything?" "Except for a wand." "Oh yes, of course. Well, off to Ollivander's we go!"

We walk down the street and go into a shop that has stacks and stacks of long boxes. Unlike the other shops, it's silent in here. Then an old man walks out and sees us. "Hello," I say. He nods in reply. "First wand?" He asks. I nod this time. "Hold out your arm please." He takes a measuring tape off a shelf. The tape starts measuring me from shoulder to finger, wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit.

While the tape does this, Ollivander takes down some boxes off the shelves. "Alright," he says and the tape measure drops to the floor. Ollivander takes a wand out of its box. "Yew, dragon heartstring. Eight inches." He gives me the wand. "Give it a wave now."

I suddenly feel a bit self-conscious. The wand doesn't feel right; it doesn't really fit my hand. I wave it around anyway but nothing happens. Ollivander takes it back and gives me another.

"Holly and phoenix feather. Eleven inches." I wave this one around but again, nothing happens. "Um, Mr Ollivander?" my mum says, stepping forward. "Yes my dear?" "Well," says Mum, rummaging around in her bag. "I was wondering if she could have my old wand." She pulls it out. "Well yes, if it works for her," he says. I take the wand off Mum. Again, it doesn't feel right. I wave it and it makes a small hole in a table. Mum takes it back, going red. "Reparo," she mutters but nothing happens. She looks even more embarrassed as Ollivander looks at her curiously. "Reparo," he says himself and the table is fixed.

He slowly walks back over to the pile of boxes. He selects one and hands it to me. I know instantly that it's the right one. I feels right in my hand and, unlike the others, it feels warm.

I twirl it around and purple mini-fireworks come out of it. I beam at Ollivander. "Holly, unicorn hair, ten and a half inches," he tells me.

I pay him seven Galleons and Mum and I leave the shop. I start waving my wand around in little circles but Mum tells me to stop. "You're not allowed use magic outside of school until you're 17," she says. "It's the law."


	4. Chapter 4

**0The chapters will come a bit slower now, just in case anyone is following this story. Over the past week or two I've been doing on every second or third day but now it might only be once or twice a month. But I'll try go as fast as I can.**

**Unfortunately, I don't own most of my story. I own some of the characters but not all they belong to the wonderful J.K Rowling**

Chapter 4

Over the next few weeks I try read as much of the books I can. I'm determined to be the best witch that I can be, even if it is a little tiring. I desperately want to try a few spells but I certainly don't want to get in trouble before school even starts.

Aoife calls me so much now. Before we knew that we are both witches, she had called maybe once every two weeks, but now it's practically every second day. We're both so excited about going to Hogwarts. We ask Mum about it but she always has the same answer, "it should be a surprise!"

Two days before we leave, Aoife asks me to her house to help her pack. "I've got this huge trunk," she tells me, holding her arms out wide. "Same here," I say, remembering how surprised I was when Mum got the enormous brown trunk out of the attic. "Why not suitcases?" she asks.

I thought that it was a rhetorical question but she seems to be looking for an answer. "Maybe that's just the normal thing in the wizard world," I say. "It's better bringing a trunk than being the only people with suitcases." "Yeah. Anyway, I have no idea what to bring! I seriously need your help."

We walk into her room. It looks like every single item of clothing she owns is on a hanger and out of her wardrobe. "I had to borrow a few hangers," she says. Then she points to her trunk. It's black and it has huge buckles and straps. "OK," I say," we can fit a lot of stuff." "Do you think we'll be in our uniform the whole time or do we wear normal clothes at weekends?" I shrug. "No idea."

Twenty minutes later we have her clothes sorted into three piles. _Most sensible_, _favourites _and _not-so-good _ones. "Oh my God, Aoife, you have so many clothes!" "I know." Her bed looks like a load of rainbows stuck together. "Well," I say, counting. You have five t-shirts in the favourite pile and six in the sensible one. Eleven t-shirts should be enough. She nods and puts the t-shirts in her trunk. She looks a little panicked and stressed. "Calm down," I tell her," you're coming back at Christmas and Easter so you can get things then." "You're right."

Next we pack trousers and skirts. A good few of them look warm so they'll do for the winter. Then she picks up a huge pile of hoodies and cardigans. "Woah. How many hoodies do you own?" "A lot," she answers. She has about twenty hoodies. Pink ones, purple ones, blue ones, multi-coloured ones… "Well, I'm definitely bringing my white one, multi-coloured one and my turquoise one," she tells me. I nod and she puts them in. "And this lilac one," she adds. "And the yellow one." Pretty soon she has all her hoodies and cardigans packed. "Looks like that's it for clothes," she says. "And look, still plenty of room for other stuff," I point out. Despite the amount of clothes she's bringing, almost half the trunk is still empty. She gets her pile of books off her desk and dumps them in the trunk. "We have so many books," she whines. I nod. "Anyway, do you have _you're_ trunk packed?" she asks. "Yeah, Mum and I packed it yesterday." "What else did you put in it?" "You know, cauldron, scales, pencil case…" "Right. Ok."

Aoife moves around the room, picking up pens and markers and rubbers. "Um Aoife," I say. "Yeah?" "We're supposed to use quills and ink." "I know, I'm putting the pens _in_ my quills to make it easier." "Ah. Good idea. Mind if I copy you?" "Not at all. Have you seen my telescope?" "Yeah it's here." I go and pick up her red telescope of her chair." "Ah. Thanks."

Another twenty minutes later, we have all of Aoife's bits and bobs packed in her trunk and ready to go. "Now _finally _ we can watch our movie," she says.

We watch Wild Child for about the billionth time and then her Mum tells us we have to go to bed. We talk about Hogwarts until we finally fall asleep.

The next morning I go home in the early afternoon. "I'll see you tomorrow," Aoife calls out. "Bye!" Mum turns on the radio and starts singing along to Katy Perry. She's so awful (Mum, not Katy) but I'm so excited that I can't even roll my eyes.

When we get home I try to read but I'm too nervous and hyper. I jump around from room to room and can't sit down. "Go on the computer," Mum tells me. "You'll be exhausted tomorrow if you don't settle down." I nod. "You nod a lot," she adds. I nod again and go into the playroom. I log into my email address and see that my friend from Dublin has send me a message.

**Hi Indigo,**

**How r u? U no the skool ur going to? Do u have access to the internet dere?**

~**Mia**~

I press reply and write:

**Hi Mia,**

**I'm good thanks, you? There are computers in the school but they've filtered sites like Gmail and Hotmail. It's letters only, sorry.**

**From, Indigo**

I don't like lying to my friends. Obviously they all think that I'm going to a muggle boarding school (but of course they don't call it "muggle") and that I'm learning English and Maths and History instead of Potions and Charms and Defence against the Dark Arts. "Mum," I call. "Yes?" "How will I write letters to my friends?" "You can send them to me by owl and then I'll post them." "Ah. Thanks." "No problem."

The phone rings and I go to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hi Indigo. This is Holly."

"Hi Holly. How are you?"

"Good thanks. Would you be able to come to my house in a few minutes?"

"One sec and I'll ask Mum."

I put my hand over the mouthpiece and go into the sitting room. "Mum, can I go to Holly's in a few minutes?"

"Thanks Mum."

I put the phone back to my ear. "See you in a few minutes," I say.

"Great! Bye."

"Bye."

I hang up and stick my head in the sitting room door. "Bye Mum."

"Bye."

I walk across the road and knock on the door. "Come in!" Holly calls. I open the door and in the dark, a load of people shout, "SURPRISE!" Then the lights go on and everyone covers me in silly string. I run over, hug Holly and then look around me. Tasha, Rosie, Leah, Michelle, Rachel, Hazel and Kelly are standing there, grinning. We all stay there for a minute and then everyone starts laughing. And once we start we can't stop. After a minute Hazel starts wiping tears from her eyes.

"What's so funny?" Holly's mum asks, walking out of the kitchen.

"Oh nothing," Hazel says, still wiping her eyes. Holly's mum hands me a can of silly string and whispers, "for when Aoife arrives."

"This is a goodbye party for Aoife too," Holly explains.

"Oh yes." I open my can and Kelly turns off the lights.

A few minutes later the doorbell rings. "Come in," Holly calls and Aoife opens the door.

"SURPIRSE!" we all yell and Kelly turns back on the lights. I push down on the nozzle and we all cover Aoife in silly string. She beams and looks at all of us. Then she spots the colourful goo on me and grins. "You too?" she asks. I nod and spray some more stuff in her hair.

Then Holly's mum comes out again and hands Aoife a can of silly string. "Who else?" I ask Holly.

"Jessica," she replies.

"Oh." Jessica is a new girl in our class that's pretty popular. She's Aoife's best friend but I hate her. I put a smile on as Kelly turns off the lights again. Five minute later Jessica knocks on the door. Holly calls, "come in!" again and I hear Aoife opening her can. Jessica opens the door and we all bellow, "SURPRISE!" and cover her from head to toe in the gunk.

"Oh you GUYS," she shrieks, flapping her hands. I try hard not to roll my eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

**Again, most of the things belong to wonder woman, J.K Rowling**

**Chapter 5**

"HOW?" I ask.

"You just run straight through it," Mum repeats calmly.

Its 10:45 and Mum and I are outside platforms nine and ten. "Here, I'll show you," Mum says. She grabs my trolley and looks at the bricks, then takes a deep breath and runs straight at it. Just as she's about to crash, I close my eyes. When I open them again, she's gone.

_OK_, I tell myself, _that was weird. But, all I have to do is run through it. _I look straight ahead of me and start running. Then someone suddenly grams my arm. "Whoa there missy, what do you think you're doing, running straight at bricks?" The man says.

"Um," I mumble and look down at my boots. He shakes his head and walks off. I wait until he's gone around the corner before facing the bricks again. I run at it and go right through it. On the other side, Aoife, her parents and Mum are there. I breathe a huge sigh of relief.

"Come on, quick, let's get on the train," Aoife says. Her dad grabs her trunk and

says, "lead the way." Most of the adults around me are wearing long robes. Aoife's parents look normal to me in their muggle clothes but I suppose wearing robes is normal in the wizarding world.

Aoife and her Dad get onto the train and Mum and I follow them. We check all the compartments but find no empty ones. "There are only two girls in here," Aoife says, pointing her thumb at one. I slide open the door and stick my head in. "Mind if we sit here?" I ask them.

"Oh not at all," the dark-haired one says.

"Thanks." We put our trunks in.

"Oh Indigo, can you help me with my owl cage?" Aoife asks. "It's quite heavy."

"OK."

We all go back to Aoife's mum. "I guess I'll say goodbye now, Indigo," Mum says. She gives me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and then I help Aoife pick up her cage. We walk back to the train and right before we step on, we look back and wave at our parents.

"I'm Bethany, by the way," the dark-haired girl says to the other as we get back to the compartment.

"And I'm Alison. What are ye called?" she asks, turning to us.

"Indigo."

"Aoife."

We sit down beside each other, facing the two girls. "I like your owl," Alison says to Aoife.

"Thanks. Her name's Katie. It's a weird name for a pet, I know, but I couldn't think of anything else."

"I think it's nice," Bethany says.

"Oooh," I say, interrupting. "I've been dying to try a few spells. Anyone else want to?"

"Ok," Alison says, pulling out her wand.

"I'll try too," Bethany adds, picking up her wand off the seat. Aoife nods and gets hers too.

"I want to try this one, Lumos, it lights up your wand or something." Alison says.

"Lumos," everyone says together. A very small ball of light appears at the end of my wand. Nothing happens for the rest of them. "Oh well done!" Bethany says. Aoife pats me on the back. I feel myself go pink but I'm really pleased.

After several more goes, Aoife still can't do the spell. Alison got it after 3 tries and Bethany after 4. Aoife's not letting that spoil her good mood though.

"Try summoning up all your magical strength and say the incantation very clearly," I advise. She nods and takes a deep breath, then half-shouts, "Lumos!" A tiny light ignites at the tip of her wand and we all clap. "Phew!" she says.

Someone knocks on the door and calls," anything from the trolley, dears?"

"Oooh," Alison says, jumping up. "I'll have a box of Bertie Bott's every-flavour beans and four chocolate frogs please," she says to the woman.

"Fourteen Sickles please." Alison hands over the money and the woman sticks her head in the door. "Anyone else?" she asks.

"No thank you," we answer simultaneously and she goes off. Alison sits back down and throws us a chocolate frog each.

"Oh, thanks Ali."

"Thank you."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

I open small box and see a card inside. It has a picture of a tall man with auburn hair going whitey-grey and a beard the same colour. He's wearing long purple robes and a pointed hat.

On the other side, it says:

_Albus Dumbledore, currently Headmaster of Hogwarts._

_Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern_

_times, Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for_

_his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945,_

_for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's_

_blood and his work on alchemy with his partner,_

_Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys_

_chamber music and tenpin bowling._

"So, Alison says to all of us, "what's your blood status?"

"Half-blood," Bethany replies. "You?"

"Pure-blood," Alison answers. They both look at me and Aoife.

"Um," Aoife says. "I don't really –"

"If all your family are magic, you're pure-blood, if one side is and the other isn't, your half-blood and if your family are all Muggles, you're muggle-born," Bethany explains.

"Oh," Aoife says. "I'm muggle-born then."

"I'm half-blood," I answer.

Anyone want a bean?" Alison offers.

"Oooh yes lease," Aoife says, taking a red one.

"No thanks," Bethany and I say at the same time.

Aoife puts the sweet in her mouth and bites it. "AH HOT," she says, jumping up. "HOT! CHILLI! HOT HOT!" She takes a down a small bag from the trunk and rummages inside it, looking for a bottle of water. Then the door slides open… and Jessica Higgins is standing there. "Excuse me," she says. "Has anyone seen my – OH MY GOD AOIFE!" Aoife jerks her head up and sees Jessica.

"JESSIE!" she shouts.

"Oh my God, Aoife! You just HAVE to come to my compartment, it's like a party in there!" Then she spots me. "Oh, Indigo," she says, with fake enthusiasm. "Do you want to come too?"

"No thanks," I answer, trying my best to sound polite.

"You go on, Jessie, I'll be there in a sec." Jessica closes the door and walks off.

"Do ye mind?" Aoife adds to us. We shake our heads and I put on a smile.

"No, you go on."

She smiles, gets her trunk and slides open the door. "I'll see ye later," she adds.

When Aoife leaves, Alison turns to me and raises an eyebrow.

"Who's she?" she asks.

"Well, the three of us were in the same class at school. Me and Aoife are friends but they're best friends."

"How come you didn't go with them?"

"Well, you see, Jessica and I don't exactly get on…"

"Ah."

For the next hour or two, we talk, never running out of things to say. "Oh we better change into our uniform," I say.

"Oh, God yeah, completely forgot.

A few minutes after we change, a voice on the train says, "We will be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be delivered separately."

We get excited and start stuffing various things in our trunks. Outside the door, people are madly running up and down the train, shouting to each other.

There's a knock on our door and Aoife and Jessica come in. "Hi guys," Aoife says. She jumps up and down. "I'm so excited!"

"Same here."

The train slows down and then eventually comes to a stop. WE get off nervously and when we get on the platform, I feel quite lost. There are hundreds of older students around us, walking in a confident manner, knowing exactly where to go. I start to feel really anxious but then a voice calls, "firs' years, o'er here. Firs' years please."

I spin around and see a giant of a man with long, scraggly hair, a huge beard and small eyes. He's waving a lamp and calling for first years.

My friends and I rush towards him and follow him to the side of a huge lake along with all the other eleven-year-olds. "Me name's Rubeus Hagrid," he calls to us, "ye can call me Hagrid. Now, no more 'en four to a boat." We all clamber into the small boats and wobble while we try to sit down. Bethany, Alison and I take one boat and Aoife, Jessica and two other girls get in another.

The boats glide through the water and in the darkness, I can see hundreds of lights and then a huge castle. "Wow," I breathe. "It's spectacular!"

Suddenly my whole body shivers, whether from the cold or excitement I'm not sure. Maybe both.

All too soon, we reach the lake's edge and get out of our boats. In doing so, I almost fall into the lake but Bethany catches my arm just in time. I shoot her a grateful smile and we both wait until everyone else is out. Hagrid looks over at us and smiles. "What's your name?" He asks.

"Indigo Powers."

"Oh, um, right. And what's your name?" he asks Alison. Then I realise that he was probably asking her in the first place. "I'm Alison Weyberry. My parents say they knew you."

"Tha's righ' we was the best of friends, me and your da. Your mum was a good friend of mine too."

Suddenly there's a splash and we look over to see a small blonde boy in the lake. "Oh for God's sake," Hagrid mutters before rushing over and hauling him out.

We walk across the grounds after Hagrid. Every now and again, he looks over at Alison and grins. Finally we reach the huge brown doors at the front of the castle. Hagrid pushes then open and we see a woman in emerald roves standing there, her thin lips in a smile. "The firs' years for ya, Professor." Hagrid says.

"Thank you Hagrid," she says. "First years, come with me."

We all follow Professor McGonagall, past the hall that the other students are in. We go into a small room and then she turns to us.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she says. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

She looks at the small boy who fell into the lake and shakes her head. "I shall return when we are ready for you." With that she turns and walks from the room.

I turn to Alison. "Is my hair OK?"

"It's fine. Is mine?"

"Yeah, it's grand. Are my clothes OK?"

"Yes. Oh wait, there's a bit of fluff on you shou—never mind, it's gone."

"How do you think we'll be sorted?"

"No idea. My brother keeps on saying something about duelling each other but I doubt they'd do that when we haven't even learned any magic."

"What house do you want to be in?" I ask.

"Gryffindor. Or maybe Ravenclaw. I don't want to be in Hufflepuff or Slytherin. My whole family have been in Slytherin but I don't think I'll be there. Or at least I hope not. What about you?"

"I don't really know. The only house I know about is Slytherin. And the only thing I know about _that _is that I don't want to be there. "

Professor McGonagall comes back and says, "Form a line now and follow me." We walk after her and come to the Great Hall where all the other students are sitting at four, long tables. I start to feel very nervous. All eyes are on our line. I try to look confident but I know it's not working.

The walk up the Hall seems to take forever. The butterflies in my stomach seem to be putting on a gymnastics show. I want to grab Alison, Bethany and Aoife and run.

After what feels like an age, we reach the top of the Hall. I see a stool with an old hat on it. Then the hat twitches. A rip near the bottom opens—and the hat begins to sing;

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

You top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see.

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve and chivalry

Set Gryffindor apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind,

Where those of with and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm the Thinking Cap!

Everyone in the Hall bursts into applause when the hat finishes. It bows to everyone and then becomes still.

I hear Alison breathe a sigh of relief beside me. I'm quite happy too that we only have to try on a hat but I'm not sure if I belong in any of houses. I don't feel brave, patient or wise. And I hope against hopes that I don't belong in Slytherin.

Professor McGonagall steps forward and unrolls a long piece of paper. "When I step forward, "she says." You will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted.

"Anderson, David." The boy who fell into the lake rushes forward and puts on the hat, which falls over his head completely and sits on his shoulders. After a few seconds the hat shouts, "HUFFLEPUFF!" And David runs over to the table that is clapping.

"Bell, Sasha," becomes a Ravenclaw and so does, "Bell, Peter."

"Aoife Byley." My friend Aoife, thinking it was her, rushes forward and sits on the stool. Another girl

walks up as well but waits until the hat shouts, "HUFFLEPUFF!" before telling Professor McGonagall

that _she _is Aoife Byley. Aoife_ Riley_ sits down beside David and Aoife Byley goes to "SLYTHERIN!"

Anxiously I wait my turn as the line gets smaller and smaller. After, "Park, Jamie," becomes a

Ravenclaw, Professor McGonagall calls out, "Powers, Indigo." I walk forward and put the hat on my

head. "Hmm," it says in my ear. _Hufflepuff_, I think. _Come on, choose Hufflepuff._ "Oh no," the hat

says, "you're certainly not going to Hufflepuff, just because your friend is there." I feel really

disappointed. "Maybe Ravenclaw," the hat continues. "Maybe Gryffindor. Hmm. Well, I suppose it

should be, GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouts the last word and I take the hat off and put it back on the

stool. The table on the right are cheering so I walk over to them and sit on the bench. "Powex, Mia,"

becomes a Ravenclaw and then there's only five people left. Alison, Jessica, twins and a small girl

with dark red hair.

"Punters, Jessica." She skips forward and puts the hat on her head as if it were a tiara. The effect is

somewhat ruined by the hat falling over her eyes. It opens its mouth and shouts "S—" but Jessica

shakes her head so vigorously that it stops. For a minute it seems that they're arguing. Then, finally, it

shouts, "HUFFLEPUFF!" And Jessica sprints over and sits beside Aoife.

"Weyberry, Alison!" Alison walks over and places the hat on her head nervously. After about half a

minute, the hat shouts, "GRYFFINDOR!"

We all clap and cheer for Alison and she sits down beside me. The twins, "Yadux, Mary!" and "Yadux,

Shannon!" goes to Ravenclaw and "Zadaluar, Eoin!" comes to Gryffindor. Dumbledore gets to his

feet, his arms open wide. "Welcome!" he says. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we

begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. Here they are: Fizzle! Ladolly! Fukana! Clek!

"Thank you."

He sits down and we all clap. I look at the table in front of me. It's filled with gold plates and cups.

Then suddenly, a whole load of fool appears. "Whoa!" I say. I look around and see various meats,

vegetables, pasta, pizza… "Could you pass me the potatoes please?" Alison asks. I reach for the plate

at the exact same time as Eoin Zedalaur. We both take our hands away and he says, "you first." I

smile and hand the plate to Alison. "Thanks."

While we eat, we talk about subjects. "I can't wait until Charms class," I say. "My mum told me it

was her favourite when she was here."

"I think I'll love potions." Eoin says.

"Defence against the Dark Arts is supposed to be really cool."

I reach for my last slice of pizza but it disappears. And all the other plates are empty too. Then they

are filled with deserts of every kind. Ice-creams, pies, cakes and tarts. I grab a scoop of cookie dough

ice-cream and a slice of cakes and toblerone cheesecake. Alison grabs some chocolate mousse,

apple pie and vanilla ice-cream. We look at each other, grin and start eating.

Fifteen minutes later I'm so full that I think I might burst. Then the desserts disappear and

Dumbledore stands up again and everyone goes quite. "Ahem- just a few more words now that we

are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give.

"First-years, the forest is forbidden to all students. And some older students should remember that

too." He looks over at three tall, grinning boys.

"Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to remind you that there is no magic allowed on corridors.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second wek of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house

teams should contact Madam Hooch.

"And finally, I must warn you about the girl's bathroom on the ninth floor, it has been hexed. I would

not enter it if I were you.

"Now, it's time for bed. Chop chop." He claps his hands twice and everybody stands up and moves

back the benches. "Gryffindors, follow me please," a tall, blonde girl calls. We follow her upstairs,

along corridors, through hidden doors. The stairs aren't ordinary ones though. Some move, some

vibrate and some have swamp or vanishing steps. Finally, we meet a painting of a plump lady.

"Wiggle umps, "the blonde girl says and the painting swings forward to reveal a hole. We all clamber

through it. "Girls through there, boys through there," she says, pointing to the two spiral staircases.

We go up the girl's one and into the one of the first-year dormitories. Three other girls walk in

behind us and sit down on their beds. I spot my trunk at the foot of the bed in the corner. I walk over

to it and Alison goes to the one beside me.

Two of the girls immediately start talking to each other but the other one looks really

uncomfortable. "What do you think of that Prefect?" Alison asks me.

"Who?"

"You know, the girl that was telling us what to do."

"Oh, her. Well, she's alright. I don't know her though so…"

"Yeah but I don't like her. She has such a matter-of-fact voice." _So do you_, I think. "And I bet she's

goody-goody two-shoes. I wonder what her name is."

"It's Annabelle Fray," the quiet girl says. "My name's Jennifer Fray by the way."

Alison goes red. "I'm Alison Weyberry. Your not- you're not related to Annabelle are you?"

"She's my cousin," Jennifer answers. "But I don't like her either. She turns to me."

"Who are you?"

"Indigo Powers."

"Wait, your dad isn't Jeffery Powers, is he?"

"Um no. My dad's name is Michael. Who's Jeffery?"

"A great Irish Quidditch player."

"What's Quidditch?"

After ten minutes of explaining what Quidditch is (a wizard game played on brooms), Jennifer suggests we go to bed. Alison and I agree and change into our pyjamas.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hogwarts and the teachers and the classes and stuff belong, as always, to J.K Rowling.**

**First Class- Potions**

We walk into the dungeons and Professor Slughorn looks around at us. For a few minutes, he talks about what potions can do, and certain ingredients.

"Now, can you all turn to page seven of your books." I flick to the page. "The potion to reduce swelling," Professor Slughorn says.

Fifteen minutes later, we're chopping up stale potatoes and poisonous berries. It seems that Professor Slughorn is in a good mood; he's humming while walking around, looking at our work. "Oh shit," Alison mutters as her potion starts bubbling. It splashes around the place and occasionally hot liquid jumps out and hits us. Even though we're at the same stage, our potions are completely different. Mine is a lilac colour and is calm whereas hers is between indigo and black and it looks like it's in a rage. Professor Slughorn rushes over and looks at our cauldrons. He nods to mine and then turns to Alison. "Oh dear. Miss Weyberry, what was the last thing you did to the potion?"

"I—I added the dried herbs."

"Did you crush them first?"

"Um, no Professor."

"OK." Suddenly a bit of the potion flies into mine and makes it dark. "Oops, sorry Indigo," Alison says.

"It's OK."

Professor Slughorn says to me, "Add some more seeds and it should be OK."

He pulls out his wand, points it at Alison's cauldron and mutters something, which returns the potion to the light brown colour it had been before.

"Thanks Professor," Alison says. I add the seeds to my potion and it goes lighter again, but not to the exact colour it was before.

Alison crushes her herbs and I go on to chopping my sugared bread.

"For goodness _sake_," Alison mutters minutes later. No matter how much she stirs it, her potion won't go the exact shade of brown that it's supposed to be. The reason that the potion won't work for her is because she didn't cut her roots i neat squares, they were all higgledy- piggledy. I don't say anything because if I did, I would seem like such a know-it-all. When I add the last ingredient, I realise that I'm one of the only ones finished. Most people's potions are at a golden-brown stage but Alison's is still muck-colour. A Ravenclaw girl, Emily I think, has the exact same shade of gold as mine. Professor Slughorn is walking around. He stops at Emily's cauldron, takes a sniff and gives an approving nod. When he comes to Alison, he shakes his head. For some reason, I feel really nervous. He sees mine and then looks back at Emily. He smiles and then sees Alison stirring the wrong way.

"It's anticlockwise, my dear," he says, stirring it himself. When he turns around, Alison makes a face and mouths, "_my dear_."

"Potions is so stupid," she complains as we walk to our next class. "It's all so precise, I thought it was going to be really easy."

"I think it was alright," I tell her, but that's an understatement. I love chopping up ingredients, weighing stuff and watching the potion change colour as you stir.

"It's a bit like cooking desserts," Jennifer says from behind me.

"Exactly."

"Whatever," Alison says. "Anyway, what's our next class?"

"History of Magic," Jennifer answers.

"Ugh no," Alison grumbles. "That's the most boring of the lot."

Alison was right. Professor Binns is the only teacher that's a ghost and I thought that would be cool but it doesn't actually make a difference. The only thing we did during the lesson was scribble down notes while Professor Binns went on and on about old wizards. "And we have Herbology next. I hate Monday mornings," Alison whines.

It's a relief when break time comes. I don't like Herbology. It's a bit like gardening. I do not like gardening. "Hi," someone says from behind me.

"Hi Aoife," I say, turning around.

"How was your morning?"

"Awful," Alison says. "We had Potions, History and Herbology."

"I loved Potions," Jennifer says. Alison gives her a weird look, like Jennifer shouldn't be allowed offer her opinion, and Jennifer sees it. "Bye," she mutters to me. As she's walking away, I see her head go down.

"What did you have?" I ask Aoife.

"I had—" Jessica runs up and whispers something in her ear. "One sec," Aoife says to her. She turns back to me. "I had Charms and Transfiguration. Now, I've to go for two seconds. See you." She turns and runs after Jessica and I turn to Alison. "What was that look about?"

"What look?"

"You know what. You gave Jennifer _such _a dirty look there."

"No I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"No I didn't." She sighs. "Let's go find Bethany."

"What house is she in?"

"Ravenclaw."

We start walking towards the lake where Ravenclaws are, but then I stop. "Oh no, I forgot to write a letter to Holly."

"Who's she?"

"My best friend."

"A Muggle?"

"Yeah."

"Why would you want to send a letter to a _Muggle_?"

"Uh, cuz she's my best friend."

Alison makes a weird sound and then continues walking towards the Ravenclaws. I spin around, start walking towards the castle. I look back and see Alison looking at me. As soon as I do though, she turns around quickly.

**Sorry this chapter is a bit short. In the next chapter, the story will change a bit.**


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